I’m a veteran Chicago-based consumer automotive journalist devoted to providing news, views, timely tips and reviews to help maximize your automotive investments. In addition to posting on Forbes.com, I'm a Contributing Editor for Consumers Digest magazine and write frequently on automotive topics for other national and regional publications and websites. My work also appears in newspapers across the U.S., syndicated by CTW Features. I'm the author of the Automotive Intelligentsia Money-Saving New-Car Guide and the Automotive Intelligentsia series of Sports Car Guides, available via Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online and at the Apple iBook store. Email me at carguyjim@att.net.

What To Do About The Sudden Surge In Teen Traffic Deaths

Here’s a disturbing statistic. Traffic fatalities among 16- and 17-year-old drivers jumped by a whopping 19 percent during the first six months of 2012, according to preliminary data compiled by the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA). This is more than twice the nine percent increase in overall traffic deaths reported during the same period by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

This figure is even more troubling given the fact that the number of teenage drivers on the road has declined precipitously in recent years. A study conducted last year by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) suggests that only about 46 percent of 17 year olds are licensed to drive, versus 69 percent in 1983.

The recent increase in highway deaths is an abrupt reversal of fortune, and it follows a 26 percent drop in traffic fatalities recorded between 2005 and 2011, which was largely credited to safer cars, stricter state DUI and seatbelt laws and, specifically as far as younger motorists are concerned, licensing procedures that placed increased restrictions on teen driving.

The UMTRI attributes this sudden increase to the otherwise welcome reversal of the nation’s economic fortunes, with more trucks on the road and drivers less concerned about driving fewer miles and at slower speeds to save on fuel costs. GHSA researcher Dr. Allan Williams further attributes the surge in teen-driver deaths (from 202 in the first six months of 2011 to 240 during the same period last year) to the unfortunate prospect that the benefit of state graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws may be tapering off. “It appears that we are headed the wrong direction when it comes to deaths of 16- and 17-year-old drivers,” says Dr. Williams.

Most GDL programs require teens to take a driver’s education course and engage in a pre-licensing learning stage with full supervised driving for between 30 and 60 hours (depending on the state) before becoming eligible to take the licensing exam. Once licensed, teen drivers must go through an intermediate stage for a set period that limits unsupervised driving at certain times, with most states limiting the number of non-family-member passengers and imposing other restrictions.

For its part, the GHSA suggests states strengthen their GDL laws (or improve compliance with existing provisions) and bolster their driver education programs, particularly with regard to distracted driving, which continues to be a problem among today’s text-messaging teens. The UMTRI recently found that 26 percent of teen drivers surveyed said they read or sent a text message from a smartphone at least once every time they take the wheel. Barbara Harsha, the GHSA’s executive director, believes states should require parents to become more involved in their teenage drivers’ training than just going along for the ride. “Parents have a huge responsibility to ensure safe teen driving behavior,” she says. “States can facilitate this by providing innovative programs that bring parents and teens together around this issue.”

As a parent of a 16-year-old driver-in-training who’s only recently become able to sit quietly in the passenger’s seat without going into cardiac arrest any time the speedometer needle climbs past the 25 mph mark, I eagerly second the motion. I was flummoxed how unprepared my son was for all but the most elemental around-the-block driving when we stared this journey together, given the limited amount of practical training he was required to complete by the state of Illinois.

He came out of the experience with zero time spent on the highway, absolutely no idea how to conduct an evasive steering maneuver, modulate the brakes, turn out of a skid or, for that matter, patiently negotiate stop-and-go driving. The dangers of distracted driving might have been mentioned – likely in an easily tuned-out chiding manner – but they were certainly not demonstrated; it would have been useful for the kids to see for themselves what happens when they try and make a call or answer a test message while piloting a car around traffic cones in a parking lot. I doubt he was even taught how to properly set the seat/steering wheel adjustments and mirrors.

Certainly more classroom time and behind-the-wheel training would be a plus. At the least, driver training in the U.S. could benefit from adopting the European practice of using professional instructors rather than the ad hoc supervision currently afforded by moonlighting high school teachers. Sorry Coach, placing one’s hands at the 10:00 and 2:00 positions on the steering wheel and turning it a hand-over-hand fashion is is neither the best nor the safest way to negotiate a turn.

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Wait, I’ve got it! Let’s ban cell phone calls while driving! Oh, wait a minute, that didn’t solve the problem? OK, let’s just ban texting while driving! Oh, right, that didn’t work either. OK, I’ve got it, ban hands-free call phone use while driving! That will do it for sure! What’s that, you say? Already did that? So let’s just ban something else. There’s gotta’ be something we can ban while driving? Check with Bloomberg, I’m sure he’ll have some ideas of things we can ban to solve this problem…

You make it sound like we should have no laws at all simply because not everyone obeys them. You also make it sound like these laws don’t work at all. I have news for you. Both those laws do make a difference. banning drinking and driving and banning texting while driving saves lives. Neither law can make EVERYONE not drink and drive or not text while they drive but in both cases these laws cut down on the amount who people who do those things and therefore in both cases they do save lives. Part of the problem though is that so many Americans are self absorbed and care about nobody but themselves or in some cases not even care about themselves. If they would stop and think about the risk to others around them maybe these bans wouldn’t be needed in the first place.

I believe the opposite is true–we should require more pre-licensing driver education and either stiffen, or at least better enforce the graduated licensing laws on the books. Also believe DUI and seatbelt laws save lives, as do safer cars.

Ford has its so-called “MyKey” which can be programmed to restrict driving in some ways for young drivers. It can restrict the top speed, reduce the maximum volume of the audio system and even disable the audio system completely if the occupants don’t wear their seat belts. With two daughters about to learn to drive, I also like that it lights up the low-fuel warning earlier. Not to toot Ford’s horn for them, I suppose others can come up with versions of their own.

I believe AT&T is working on a system that would go a step further, giving parents the ability to remotely monitor how their kids are driving and give them the power to disable calls, texts and social networking on their smartphones while behind the wheel. Talk about a back seat driver.

Parents can do a better job of policing their children. They should police them through one of the digital webcam recorders that upload what they record to an online database. I saw a video article in Bloomberg a week or two ago about it. Parents would set this device up in their cars. Then they could check up on it later, fast forward through the footage to see if their kids are texting at all during driving.

If the kid doesn’t turn the device on, it’s an infraction. If they are caught it’s an infraction too.

I strongly recommend enrolling your kid in a teen driving program like Ford’s Driving Skills For Life. (BMW, Toyota and others have similar programs). They taught my daughter how to drive out of a skid, forced her to drive while texting (she failed miserably at both skills, which is the point) and put drunk-driving goggles on her so she would know how distorted her brain and vision would be if she were driving while intoxicated. Until they have these kinds of experiences in a controlled atmosphere, they won’t be prepared to handle what real driving throws at them. The reward? After a recent snowfall, my daughter said she was grateful she knew how to handle the slippery roads. Amen!

Maybe Parents Shouldnt buy their kids brand new cars and expect them to not use the car for all it has. people really dont respect cars and dont understand the fact that giving a kid a new 400 horsepower car is not a good idea. they cant handle it. why does a 16 year old kid need a new car anyway? He/She needs a 2000$ car with 90,000 miles and 150 horsepower and then you can watch the fatalitys drop because they have less power at their foot. and plus you cant show off in a 1994 four door cavalier!!!!